She knew she could see what others missed. She understood being overlooked after polio left her with a limp and her classmates avoided her. But polio also gave Dorothea a sense of empathy, which she would never lose.

When the Great Depression struck, that empathy led Dorothea to take her camera to the streets. She took photos of men waiting in breadlines and sleeping on sidewalks...

But Dorothea didn't stop there. People began to notice her photographs and soon she was working for the government. Into the dust bowl, into migrant camps, she went looking for the poor, the hungry, those who had been forgotten. She was in search of faces to depict the Great Depression.

In lyrical prose, Dorothea Lange tells the story of how the photographer found what she was looking for and got America to take note."

Tantalizing taste:

"Now the family was stranded and starving.

Dorothea shot a half-dozen or so pictures

of the mother and her children -

the last a close-up of the woman's deeply lined face.

She looks much older than her thirty-two years.

After two of the photos ran in the newspaper,

the government rushed ten tons of food to the camp.

Because Dorothea turned her lens on hunger and poverty,

Florence Owens Thompson, a full-blooded Cherokee,

became the face of the Great Depression.

And the nation could not look the other way."

and something more: I was fascinated to learn that the publication of Dorothea Lange's amazing photo, "Migrant Mother", in the San Francisco newspaper elicited aid from the government. When I read more about this photo, I found out that Dorothea almost didn't take the photo. She actually had finished her photo-taking and was headed home when she passed a "Pea-Pickers" sign and turned back twenty miles later. Serendipity!

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occupation: first and foremost... children's book author. Also SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) school group docent and Council Member, public library Board of Trustee member, former middle school Language Arts and Writing Workshop teacher and high-tech attorney

represented by: the fabulous Deborah Warren of East West Literary Agencyloves: children's literature, SCBWI, the beauty and power of words, modern art and architecture, chocolate, exploring new places, adventures, hiking, flower gardens, zumba, modern dance classes, my wonderful family and friends and adopted Humane Society tabby cat AND writing a true tale ... with something more!

And here's my picture book about a stellar Steller Sea Lion, a true story ...

illustrated by Shennen Bersani

ASTRO book award!

2011 Gold Mom's Choice Award

Tells the true tale of a stellar Steller sea lion, a threatened species. Only days old when found orphaned, Astro is cared for at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. When big enough to be released, he has other plans! Astro swims back towards the Center and even joins a walk-a-thon! The book tells of his journey to his current home at the Mystic Aquariumin Connecticut.